How Can Banks Improve Their Cybersecurity?

Advice From Palo Alto Networks

Financial service providers have worked very hard on cyber risk management for decades. However, the latest report from the Bank of England shows an increase in the proportion of banks that say a cyberattack is a risk they find most challenging to manage. Why is cybersecurity still such a problem?

Palo Alto Networks takes a close look at cyber security in the financial sector and gives five critical pieces of advice.

The finance fundamentals are changing slowly, but technology in this sector is developing at a rapid, increasing pace. This is precisely what the cyber opponents take advantage of. The most common target for criminals is financial gain. With the digitization of more and more financial processes, the path to criminal income is getting shorter, and the “returns” are increasing.

For something to change, Palo Alto Networks believes that the following actions are required:

Financial Service Providers Need To Make Their Complex Digital Processes Visible In Real-Time

This may sound simple, but all too often, there is a divide between technology and business. Without a holistic approach, it cannot be defined whether activities in the network occur regularly or whether they have a malicious background.

Faster Adoption Of Cybersecurity Measures At Financial Institutions

Agile is a term that is often used in board meetings of banks and other companies. But while DevOps teams can now purchase cloud computing resources in milliseconds, most security features are acquired in fixed, multi-year contracts. Cybersecurity needs to take into account that a bank today creates applications and digital services across multiple channels. When banks consider a cloud-first approach to security, they can better focus on keeping up with the digital transformation.

Reduce The Attack Surface

It is all too easy for banks to use open, networked systems because they are faster and easier to implement. The challenge is not knowing where the subsequent risk is coming from or how far it could affect. More and more banks have to switch to the concept of “Zero Trust Networking.” Better coordination between business processes and technology can ensure that only the required access is granted, which reduces the impact of a security incident.

As in other areas, cybersecurity in the banking sector requires an automated operating platform. On the way to digital transformation, preventive cybersecurity must be built into new financial systems as standard. An evolving problem of a digital nature requires evolving cybersecurity for the industry.

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